Update, 1/29: More coverage on Colorado Spending Transparency and Ed News Colorado, as well as a kind link from the Open Records blog.
This morning the Colorado Senate Education Committee got a bit of a surprise, it might seem, with a slew of concerned citizens coming forward to testify in support of Senate Bill 57 (PDF) (sponsored by state senator Ted Harvey) - which would bring something akin to full-fledged financial transparency to Colorado public schools.
It's unusual to see more than 15 average citizens come forward to testify for a piece of legislation - and rarer yet, to have many of them do so quite eloquently. Most were from the metro Denver area, a couple hailed from Weld County, and one of them drove three hours over the … [Read more...]

The Rocky Mountain News today takes a closer look at Protect Colorado's Future and its use of "real" people in advertisements to foist its deceptive messages on the public:Firefighter Joel Heinemann says he would rather run into a burning building than face a movie camera.
Yet it's his face Coloradans are seeing in television ads and home flyers urging a "no" vote on Amendments 47, 49 and 54.
Heinemann is a "messenger," one of about a dozen firefighters, police officers, nurses and teachers who volunteered to enter the political limelight to speak against three ballot initiatives they believe are anti-union.
Of course, it's also important to note that Joel Heinemann is president of the Littleton firefighters union, and that Denver … [Read more...]

This morning Mike Rosen, Colorado's leading radio talk show host, called out the group "Protect Colorado's Future" for deceptive ads run against Amendment 47, Amendment 49, and Amendment 54 on Colorado's ballot this fall. Here's the transcript:CALLER: A fairly deceptive ad running on TV. I've seen it a number of times recently. It's a fireman from Littleton, and the background is sort of set against a real sympathetic figure fighting fires, been doing this for 14 years and, you know, I'm in the same league with nurses, and teachers, and policemen, and all that, and vote against these "deceptive" amendments 47, 49, and 54. He never, they never come right out and say what these amendments are obviously, but -
ROSEN: It's a clever tactic … [Read more...]